Prep Rally

Unheralded California player totals four returns for touchdowns in a single half

Somehow, Woodside (Calif.) High senior Josh Holman totaled 285 yards and four touchdowns in a single half without touching the ball offensively.

In Friday's 58-24 win over San Bruno Capuchino High (San Bruno, Cal.), Holman returned two kickoffs, a punt and a fumble for touchdowns -- in the first half. He took kicks of 95 and 90 yards to the house, scampered 65 yards home on a post-safety punt and strolled 2 yards into the end zone on the fumble recovery, according to the San Jose Mercury News.

"My defense was mad at me," Holman joked to the paper.

And Friday was no fluke. In a 42-27 victory against Half Moon Bay (Calif.) High a week earlier, Holman returned a kickoff 90 yards for a score and hauled in seven catches for 194 yards and two more TDs. On the season, he's totaled 10 touchdowns, averaging 43.3 yards per kickoff return, 20.8 yards per punt return and 18.8 yards per catch.

"This kid needs to be seen and noticed," Woodside coach Josh Bowie told MaxPreps. "The kid's potential is limitless. He's fast and explosive. He had great hands. If he doesn't go somewhere to play college football then I'm just not doing my job."

A wide receiver and cornerback for the Wildcats, Holman is an unranked recruit listed at just 5-foot-11 and 165 pounds, but the Woodside track standout's reported 40-yard dash time of 4.49 seconds is probably a better measurement of his talent.

Holman reminds Wildcats fans of former quarterback Julian Edelman (h/t MaxPreps). Now a New England Patriots receiver, Edelman led Woodside to a 13-0 season in 2004, throwing for 2,237 yards and 29 touchdowns while rushing for 964 yards and 13 scores.

Holman surely doesn't mind following those footsteps. Once an undersized Kent State recruit, Edelman's 12.8 yards per punt return is the best NFL average in 50 years.

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